BIRMINGHAM, England — Double Olympic champion Mo Farah ran the fastest ever indoor time over two miles at the Birmingham Grand Prix on Saturday in his first race of 2015.
Farah put aside a Twitter row with a British teammate in the build-up to the race to cross the line in eight minutes 3.40 seconds.
The time eclipsed Kenenisa Bekele’s world best of 8:04.35 at the same meeting seven years ago.
"So many times I have been asked, ‘Am I ever going to break a world record?"’ said Farah, who ran the second mile in 3:59 seconds. "So it’s nice to say I’ve done it once now."
Former world champion Kim Collins won the 60 metres in 6.50 seconds. Justyn Warner of Toronto was fourth in a personal best 6.57.
Farah was engaged in a dispute during the week with compatriot Andy Vernon, who criticized the lack of high-level competition for Farah in Birmingham. Farah reacted with tweets, and said on Friday he had fallen out with Vernon because of comments his teammate made after Farah won the 10,000 metres in last year’s European Championships.
The Somalia-born Farah claimed Vernon suggested he did not deserve the win because he was not European, although Vernon said he was joking.
"It (the argument) inspired me," Farah said, "I wanted to do it. Whatever’s happened has happened, we’ve got to move on, but at the same time I’m an athlete, that’s what I do best. I just have to keep running."
Farah’s previous indoor best over two miles, the European record from 2012, had stood at 8:08.07.